Hello Internet!
Here we are at the beginning of July! Months are just flying by so fast and the summer heat is rising and rising. I heard that people from Arizona actually traveled to Hell to escape the heat. Anyway, I hope that everyone out there is enjoying their summer and escaping the heat. June was another great month for the website which had a steady increase views, likes, and followers. I want to give a quick shout out to all the new visitors of the website! Thank you for stopping by and hopefully you enjoyed what you read. If you read something you like, don’t be afraid to leave a comment or like the post, and if you didn’t like it, feel free to contact me or leave some creative criticism down below. I enjoy hearing from people and getting some feedback that will better the website for everyone. Again, thank you for your continuing support and I hope you spend some time on the website checking stuff out.
Ok, now onto some housecleaning stuff. This is going to be a little long, but it is super important so it needs to be included. Sorry to people who want to know about my New Year’s Resolutions. We will get there. But first I need to tell you what’s going on in the month of July when it comes to the posting schedule. First things first, there will not (N-O-T) be anything posted between July 2nd and July 8th. There won’t be any new Pokemon chapters or new Writing Prompt piece. The reason is that I’m preparing for some new, fun stuff. We are quickly approaching 100 pieces on the website (WOAH) and I want to do something special for it. So during this next week, I will be working really hard on producing pieces 96, 97, 98, 99, and 100. It’s going to be a little strange and a little meta and I hope you will check it out. Those will be posted daily the week of July 9th starting on the 9th and then being posted the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th. The final chapter will be posted on the 13th. There will be nothing posted the 14th or 15th and then we will back to the normal schedule with a Weekly Blog posted on July 16th. So hopefully that makes sense, but let me try to reiterate it another way. I’m throwing out the normal schedule for the next two weeks. Nothing will be posted July 2nd – July 8th. Then July 9th through July 13th, we’ll have some special pieces leading up to piece 100 being posted on July 13th. Then we’ll return to the normal schedule starting July 16th with a regular Weekly Blog. So there’s that. Hopefully you’ll be back to read through pieces 96 through 100 starting on July 9th. It’s going to be a series of pieces which tells one, overall story. Again, I’m super excited for it, so I hope all of you can send some views and love to these upcoming pieces.
Done with that stuff. Now we should move on to the stuff that you came for. My resolutions and an update on how my life is going. As you should know by now, this is a monthly series updated each month to inform you about how my New Year’s Resolutions are going. The Original post can be found here and there is a February update, March update, April update, May update, and June update. So feel free to read all of those if you want, or you can just check out the original post so you know what goals I set for myself in 2017. If you don’t want to read them (ouch), that’s ok to, because I’ll break down each of my goals for you in this post. This will focus on the time between June 1st and July 1st.
My first New Year’s Resolution was to write more in 2017. As you may know, or can infer, this resolution helped spawn the idea for the website you see before you. I want to be a writer, but I was always someone who had all these ideas in his head and never wrote them down. This was my way to putting my pen to the paper (or keystrokes to the digital page) and actual write things. For the past 6 months, I have been uploaded different creative writing pieces and getting you guys and girls to view them. Including this blog, there has been a total of 95 pieces uploaded to the website and we are quickly approaching piece number 100! (See information above.). I’m so excited for the growth of this website and I feel like I’m actually accomplishing something with my writing, even if its kind of small right now. We’re starting to grow a small community with people all over the globe and that amazes me. So yeah I’m writing stuff down and each month we’re growing this website together.
My second resolution is that I wanted to be more positive and be a more positive force in the world. I wanted to discard all the negativity that is usually found on the internet, and put out something positive for people. Of course this has its limits. I can’t be happy and positive all the time and that kind of goal would be unrealistic, but I can try to be optimistic and focus on the good among the bad. This one has had some rough moments for sure. I’m still facing obstacles in my life and sometimes the world can really drag me down. Negative stuff can pierce the little optimist bubble I’m creating. I still feel sadness, loneliness, anger, disappointment, and other similar emotions, but I’m really trying my best to stay positive and look for the silver lining on the horizon. This is one resolution that I hope you take up too. There’s so many people out there that want to spew hate or be a troll or just make people feel bad. I want to task you to do the opposite. Spend your time picking people up instead of tearing them down and try to put out positivity into the world, even if it gets hard sometimes. I know how that feels. So how have I done with this one? Well it’s kind of a mixed bag, but I think I’m doing pretty well. I’m trying and that’s really all people can ask of you.
My third resolution was that in 2017, I wanted to be more adventurous. I wanted to be more outgoing and look for opportunities instead of shying away from them, and I also wanted to go on more adventures. Explore the world around me and spend more time out in nature away from the noisy environment of work or my home or wherever. Looking at the “go on adventures” side of the resolution, I can say that I haven’t been really focused on this one. I’m been trying to enjoy the summer weather and go outside more. Unfortunately most of my time seems to be inside. I’m at work, or I’m at home writing, or I’m on the internet watching the latest movie trailer on YouTube. Altogether I spend a lot of time inside, but I still want to take advantage of the summer and go on some adventures. One thing I did this month was travel across the state to visit from family I haven’t seen for a while, so that was fun. The second part is a little harder for me. I’m still at the same job, I’m still single, and I still live with my parents. Nothing has really changed on that front and due to the need to pay student loans and go to work, I don’t really see it changing much. Maybe things will change, but either way I’m trying to be more optimistic and open to new experiences that may be happening in the near future.
My fourth and final New Year’s Resolution was that I wanted to be healthier. I wanted to take this year to focus on me and my physical and mental well-being. This resolution had a big focus on diet and exercise as well as relieving stress and anxiety from my life. Diet wise, I’m continuing my pop-free lifestyle and drinking a ton of water. Literally 90% of the liquid I consume is probably water with the other 10% being made up of Gatorade or Lemonade or Milk. I’ve also been eating a lot more salads, leafy greens, and vegetables. Truth be told, I still have a major sweet tooth and I still consume way too much sugar, but I’m trying to cut back a little bit. When it comes to exercise, I have definitely failed to launch on plans to get back in shape. Since January I’ve been planning on getting a gym membership or just start jogging around the block, but neither of those have happened. I need to find some time to do it, but I keep putting it off and making excuses. I don’t have a lot of free time, but I need to take what free time I have and try to fit some exercise into it. I was hoping for a better update in June, but I haven’t made it happen. Maybe I’ll have better news in August, but we’ll have to see.
There’s all four of my big resolutions I’m focusing on in 2017. Altogether, I think I’m doing pretty good and I’m proud of how I’m doing. I’m not perfect and I definitely have shortfalls, but that’s what makes me human. We try to achieve something and sometimes it doesn’t work out. We have to take the failures and our successes and learn from them both. I hope that you are working on your New Year’s Resolutions and making yourself a better person. If you don’t have any resolutions, that’s ok. It’s never too late to start. You don’t have to wait until January of 2018. You can choose July 2nd, 2017 to start your resolutions. Just start with something small and realistic and work your way up from there. Sometimes we get weighed down by lofty goals that are too ambitious and then we get frustrated when we can’t achieve them. Don’t beat yourself up. Just focus on small stuff because that can really add up to big changes in your life.
I just want to give another reminder that will not be anything posted next week, but the following week will have a series of special pieces leading up to piece number 100. Then we’ll go back to a normal schedule for the rest of July. Thank you for checking out this piece and I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked what you read, please leave a comment or give it a like, and if you really liked it, go check out the rest of the website and give some love to the other pieces. I’m sure you’ll find something you like on the website.
Thank you for all your support and I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Allen_The_Writer
UPDATE (7/8)
It seems like I underestimated the time it would take to write all the upcoming pieces and overestimated the time I would have. To put it simply, I’m going to have to push back some of the dates the pieces will be published. Part 1 will be published tomorrow Sunday July 9th, Part 2 will be published Wednesday, July 12th, Part 3 will be published Friday, July 14th, Part 4 will be published Monday July 17th, and Part 5 (piece #100) will be published Wednesday July 20th. Then things will return to normal starting with a Weekly Blog being posted on Sunday July 23rd. These dates may change, but I’m hoping that this additional time will allow me to produce a better product for you guys. Part 1 and 2 are finished but they have taken me a lot longer than I originally thought. Thanks for your understanding!
Allen The Writer 